I worte, My only regret is that loosing my employer in 2008 made me irrationally conservative about hording cash. [E-fund has risen to about 18 months of expenses, which even I would admit seems kind of silly.] Had I deployed most of that cash instead of hording it, I could have shaved a couple of years off my retirement target.

After I posted I realized this statement might seem to conflict my previous statements.

During the past year I sold my house and reduced my expenses somewhat. The horded cash is mostly from the proceeds of that sale - I've continued to max-out my available retirement contributions and have even made a number of taxable account purchases - mostly from excess income... I've mainly been reluctant to invest most of that cash from the home sale, even though I know I should. Had I simply put the money into the investment options I was researching at the time, I'd be a lot better off (like a 50% gain).